Dangerous to Stop Taking Fish Oil!
September 8, 2004
Recent media reports have been saying that, according to a Danish study, fish oil does not prevent cardial arrythmia. Many have gotten the impression that fish oil does not at all benefit the heart. This is very wrong! Considering the many who take fish oil for the health of their heart, it is of utmost importance that this mistake be corrected, as it may be dangerous to stop supplementing with fish oil!
Several studies have shown that a modest intake of fish oil effectively prevents cardiac arrest. Perhaps the most reliable study, the so-called GISSI trial, published in The Lancet in 1999, included 11,000 men, all of whom had previously had a blood clot in their heart and were highly likely to have another one.
In this randomized trial, fish oil halved the risk of sudden cardiac arrest and reduced overall mortality by 20%. No other medication can prevent cardiac death to that extent!
The Danish study is not, like GISSI, a treatment trial with the guarantees for correct conclusions this implies. The study is not blinded and, for example, has no control group, where participants receive blind tablets (placebo).
Furthermore, the questionnaire is about fish consumption, and if you answer yes because you eat cod fingers and plaice fillets, then there is not much fish oil in that diet. It is therefore highly questionable what can be deduced from such a questionnaire survey.
Fish oil reduces the risk of death from a blood clot in the heart, i.e. in the coronary arteries, better than any heart medication. There is complete scientific agreement on this, and nothing in the Danish study contradicts it. It is most unfortunate – indeed downright dangerous – if press reports entice heart patients to stop taking the supplements.
By: Vitality Council
References:
1) Albert C. Fish oil – an appetising alternative to anti-arrhytmic drugs? Lancet 2004;363:1412-3.
2) Schrepf, R et al. Immediate effects of n-3 fatty acid infusion on the induction of sustained ventricular tachycardia. Lancet 2004;363:1441-2.
www.lancet.com
www.iom.dk